All posts by Jesse C. Dienner

A spectrum of musical madness that represents our tastes from large to small, mainstream to obscure, spaced out to reasonable. There's no way in bloody hell you'll love every release on this list unless you have a million personalities living in your puny body, but chances are great that you'll discover some excellence you never...

Rob Crow is a man of multiple musical ventures. One could even say he is a man of multiple musical adventures: hailing from very distinct bands such as Pinback, Goblin Cock, The Ladies, Heavy Vegetable, and Thingy (amidst several others), he now brings us a versatile new solo record curiously entitled He Thinks He’s People....Read...

“I’ve got time to kill… like we all do,” croon Body Language, with charisma, over a whirling synthesizer. “You Can” opens their new release, entitled Social Studies, introducing an album packed full of slow jam grooves suitable for a club setting — though perhaps a club from the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s. The second track,...Read...

Noting that this group comes from Alabama originally, expectations might stereotype that there would be a country or folk flavor to this record. Such tones are clearly there, be it in the use of the saw or the accordion as featured instruments or be it the title of the new album itself: Welcome To The...Read...

Dominant Legs’ latest release, Invitation, has positive energy and a light sound, but still contains a melodic fusion of multiple styles. It has a mix of an ’80s pop sound and a mid-’90s jam band sensibility: like Wham! meets Rusted Root (the former of which is a favorite of this writer, the latter not so...Read...

During my first listen to this record, I hated it. It seemed whiney, and the tape hiss and overall crunchiness overshadowed the melodies. The songs were like musical vitamins, so concentrated my body couldn’t absorb them. But after a few more listens, the figurative taste that Fruit Of The Spirit left in my mouth inverted...Read...

It is a good sign that this teaser EP, The Sound Of Ghosts, only makes me want to hear more tracks from Brown Bird. All four tracks share a similar essence and so I can easily associate them as all being the products of the same musicians. Still, each song carves out its own flow...Read...

It is a toss-up between “Inaudible Song II,” and its predecessor, “Billy Bird,” when it comes time to recommend my favorite song from the optimistically-titled Only Good Thoughts Can Stay by Jared Mees And The Grown Children. On multiple random occasions, both songs have surfaced in my head while I have been out and about...Read...

Born With Stripes is a chameleon of an album. It starts off with a catchy, pop — “accessible indie,” as I like to call it — number, entitled “We Don’t Know Who We Are.” This album has so many varied styles (from blues to psychedelic to Indian-influenced) that I don’t think this album quite knows...Read...

The debut full-length album from Stockholm brother-sister duo Dag För Dag, entitled Boo, starts off with a short introduction track. At the end of this 30-second preface, there is a distant, “One… two… three… four,” and immediately track two, “I Am The Assassin,” commences. With a compelling bass and drum line, followed by a sleek...Read...